Mafia

Added December 2nd, 2003 by Barnolde

At first glance, this game may just seem like another GTA3 ripoff, which is not true for many reasons, but mainly due to the fact that Mafia was in development before GTA3 was, but quality takes time and it took Mafia a lot longer to come out, and although the wait sucked, the quality made up for it in the long run, as I found it to be superior to GTA3 in all ways. So far, the only information available about the Xbox version is that the realistic (slow) driving will be “adjusted”, and from the first screenshots of the game, it doesn’t look as good as the PC version, but that will probably change as it did with Max Payne 2, as there is still development time left.

Mafia takes place in the 1930’s, and the whole game is actually a series of flashback events. You are Tommy, a former mafia member, and you are telling a detective the events of your mafia career, which is how the game takes place. The mood and environment in the game is definitely an excellent representation of the 30’s, as the style of the clothes, the cars, and even the soundtrack are old fashioned.

The game is more linear than GTA3, but I think that works in its favor. Mafia delivers its story in a superb fashion and that is one of the reasons that makes the game so playable. Most missions have you going back to the bar, which is your main base in order to find out what you have to do, and that is where you will “suit up”, which is getting guns, a car, and companions, if applicable. There is a radar which will guide you to your objective, and you will get instructions on what to do. You can do free roaming before or after you finish your mission, but there is an entirely separate mode devoted to that, if you want the best free roam experience possible.

The free ride mode is a separate mode that focuses on what the name implies, free riding. There are no objectives, and the purpose is for you to explore things, learn new things about the maps, and basically do what you choose. Though there are no written objectives, you can earn money in free roam mode in order to buy guns or health. The most entertaining thing in free roam is to travel down an evil path and cause as much destruction as you can, it’s a rush and also hilarious when you’re riding away on a trolley, throwing Molotov cocktails and shooting at gangster and police cars which are chasing you. There is also an objective based free ride extreme, which you must unlock, and it’s worth it, because of all the goofy and obscure objectives that you must complete, which will unlock new things for you in free ride mode. Free ride and the main game are different, and they do not have any real direct correlation with each other.

Mafia does a great job at telling a story, and even if it comes to Xbox unchanged it would be worth it, because of the immense amount of fun and replay value it offers. The main complaint by some people about the PC version was that the cars moved too slow, and things were just too realistic. I did not find these things problems as the game is realistic and takes place more than 70 years ago. You cannot expect to have 80mph speed machines in the time before World War II. Since the game is more realistic, you do not have as much life, do not run as fast, and cannot carry many weapons like you can in GTA3. You can only carry a few weapons, and if a firefight ensues and you are out in the open, you can easily be killed in a few shots. Being realistic does not ruin a game, as many people enjoy Tom Clancy games as well as the ability to carry only two weapons in Halo. Even, if you’re not a fan of realistic games and a die-hard GTA fan, give Mafia a chance, the excellent story telling and atmosphere, as well as spot on gameplay make Mafia in a league of its own, with GTA3 and even GTA: Vice City trailing behind.